Dear New Yorkers, New York City’s beaches opened over Memorial Day weekend, with public pools also set to open by the end of June — in spite of the ongoing lifeguard shortage. There are just 480 lifeguards ready to be deployed. That’s about a third of the 1,400 lifeguards that Parks officials say they need to watch over the city’s 14 miles of beaches and nearly 100 pools. The Parks Department has in the past few months rolled out several changes to boost ranks, including boosting the starting salary and adding a season-completion bonus, more free training sessions and tweaks to make the qualification process easier. Unrelated to the staffing shortage, officials say, some stretches of Rockaway Beach will still be closed due to a sand replenishment project. And Astoria Pool, one of the largest in the city, will be closed for capital repairs. As the season kicked off last weekend, workers around Beach 97th Street said they were hopeful for a great summer after the previous one was affected by closures due to the ongoing federal resiliency project. “The weather was perfect last summer so I have hope for both outcomes, that we have perfect weather every weekend and the beach is safe and everyone can enjoy it here,” said Paul Sacks, who was setting up at the Boarders concession stand. Read more here.
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